Casio Privia PX-770 Digital Piano

Casio PX-770

Product Overview

Despite breaking into the higher end digital market over the last several years, Casio’s bread and butter over their 40 years of manufacturing digital pianos has been the entry-level and intermediate market. Casio digital pianos are synonymous in the industry for exceptional value. The Casio Privia PX770 home digital piano is another example that attests to this and offers a great alternative to brands like Yamaha and Roland.

Casio’s portable Privia models have been hugely popular over the last few years with beginners and even gigging professionals. The PX770 delivers the Privia experience in a compact cabinet built for the home, and checks all the boxes you’ll need for students learning piano, hobbyists looking for creative expression, and higher-level players who require the versatility of a digital piano for practicing.   Casio’s proprietary AiR Sound Source (Acoustic and intelligent Resonator) offers up an authentic grand piano sound, and 19 total onboard sounds, including various grand pianos, vintage electric pianos synths, and harpsichord.

With Casio’s  Tri-sensor II Scaled Hammer Action Keyboard, you’ve got a reliable action, a compact modern design with a matching bench, and a variety of useful features. A home piano that competes well in its class.

Action

Casio has equipped the PX770 digital piano with its Tri-Sensor  88-note scaled hammer action keyboard II. The action is well-weighted, but a little ‘mechanical’ in comparison to the latest Roland or Kawai actions. This might not be a deal-breaker for some, but it is worth noting. It is overall well-scaled across the entire key range and has three adjustable levels of touch sensitivity.

The action has simulated ebony and ivory key surfaces which give the keyboard a unique feel, especially the ivory textures. There is a sense that it’s a heavier action, but from our perception, it’s the dynamic resistance that feels a little bulkier than normal – the amount of weight it takes to get the key in motion (static resistance) still feels totally consistent with an acoustic piano.

Piano Sound

Casio uses what they call the Multi-Dimensional Morphing AiR (Acoustic and intelligent Resonator) tone generator, which is essentially a 4-velocity layer sample-based engine, with the added synthesis of variables such as damper resonance and hammer response.

The PX770 features 128 notes of polyphony which is sufficient for most general piano playing, and overall delivers a pretty satisfying piano sound, especially when used with headphones to overcome the limitations of the onboard speaker system, and while still sufficient for home use at 16 watts of power, playing the PX770 with headphones reveals more complexities of the sound engine.

There are 19 total onboard instrument tones here, including organ, pad sounds electric pianos, harpsichord, and more. The PX770 also features duet mode which allows the keyboard to be split into two equal ranges so a student and a teacher can use the piano simultaneously.

Connectivity

With regards to connectivity, the Casio PX770 is a bit on the limited side, offering USB to host and 2 1/4″ headphone inputs. This instrument is mainly used for playing and practicing at home, so it wasn’t built for people seeking tons of connectivity in mind. That being said, Casio has other options with more connectivity options if that’s important to you.

Notable Features

The Concert Play is an impressive feature found in the PX770 that is definitely going to be a super cool add-on for some folks. Concert Play essentially allows you to play orchestral pieces along with a symphony orchestra.

• AiR Sound Source tone engine
• 19 onboard sounds
• 128 note polyphony
• 16 watts of speaker power
• Acoustic Simulator Parameters for Piano Tones: Hammer Response, Damper Resonance, Damper Noise
• 88 note Scaled Hammer Action Keyboard II
• Duet mode, Transpose  (-12 semitones ~ 0 ~ +12 semitones)
• Digital Effects: Hall Simulator / Reverb – 4 (Reverb), Chorus – 4, Brilliance – (-3 ~ 0 ~ 3), DSP – (Preset for some tones)
• On-board lesson function
• Music Library: 60 songs
• On-board USB Audio Recorder: Two track MIDI recorder
• Built-in 3-pedal unit with soft, sostenuto, and damper pedals
• Metronome
• AC power supply, music stand, and built-in key cover included

Conclusions

For those seeking what the Privia series has to offer, but looking for something for the home with a stylish cabinet, the PX770 is just the ticket.